Tree stands currently on the market cover a wide range in costs, complexity and functionality. It is believed that all stands currently available fail in the fundamental requirement of reliably keeping the tree upright over a few weeks time. The fact that new variants enter the market and others disappear every year would seem to indicate that the marketplace, as a whole, shares this dissatisfaction. A good steady tree stand at a reasonable cost is somewhat of an elusive quest.
The failure of existing tree stands stems from the approach that designers have taken in their development. A common design on the Canadian market has, as its base, a small pot to serve as a water reservoir for the tree. Annular thumb screws near the top of the pot secure the tree in place. No additional secure thumb screws can be used near the bottom of the pot because, of course, the water would leak out.
To secure the tree at the bottom of the pot there may be an upward pointing spike or an oversized disk screwed to the base of the tree to prevent sideways motion. The leg arrangement may be three or four discrete legs extending out from the pot or a complete circular base of about sixteen inches in diameter.
These designs prove unreliable. It is not a problem of the stability of the base. Theoretically, a sixteen inch diameter base is adequate to prevent tipping. Furthermore, it can be shown that the base need not be heavily weighted to provide sufficient stability. Yet trees and stands of this design fall over just the same. The source of the problem can be traced to the clamping mechanism to securing the tree which is inadequate in firmly locking the tree to the base.
The clamping inadequacies arise from the thumb screw arrangement which is ill-suited to tree trunk shapes that may be quite uncircular and which behave plastically over time. The larger the tree, the less circumferential area the thumb screws cover proportionately, leading to loss of clamping effect. Spikes protruding from the bottom of the pot are often too short or too dull to dig into the trunk sufficiently to prevent sideway motion. The reservoir itself, which is a structural element of the stand, is often under designed, flexing and deforming upon the sideways loads imparted by the tree through the thumb screws.
Simply put, designers have approached the problem in reverse. Instead of starting with the essential design requirement of making the tree stand, they have started with the secondary requirement of providing a pot of water to the tree and then locate a clamping arrangement within the pot.
The present invention seeks to provide a strong clamping mechanism and a stable stand.